Each and every week “Long Island Iced C” Henchman21 and “Silent Rage” MK2FAC3 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of September 7, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

There’s a lot of comics coming out this week. Some more powerful than others, but some smaller titles that are destined to be better than the bigger ones. Who knows what’s going on, but I think the comic book industry has a strong cruiserweight division, so hopefully some of those books will show up in the heavyweight title picture, because they ultimately will deserve a long term title run. Oh wait, we’re talking about comics… sorry! I get confused!

Anyway, this week we see Kirby: Genesis, one of my favorite new books of the year, the returns of Atomic Robo and Casanova, and the first full week of new DC books including Action Comics, Men of War, Swamp Thing, Animal Man, Stormwatch, lions, and tigers, and bears, OH MY! This week promises to be a good one, so grab my hand on join me as we travel down the four color brick road to the land of comics!

MK2FAC3

ISSUES:

There are a lot of new DC books that I’m looking forward to. I know that last week I kind of went on a tirade against the books that DC was force-feeding us, but this week is like Thanksgiving. I might get full and puke, but it all tasted pretty good when I was eating it. And there’s nothing like those… pillowy mounds of mashed potatoes… wait, what are we talking about? Comics? Oh yeah! I like those! So, new DC books that I’m not going to go into, but that I am looking forward to this week are as follows: Animal Man #1, Batgirl #1, O.M.A.C. #1 (for the lulz!), Static Shock #1, Stormwatch, Swamp Thing, and… of course…

Action Comics #1 (DC Comics – $3.99): It’s freaking Grant Morrison writing Superman for Christ’s sake. I mean, seriously. Criticize his jeans and cape all you want. Get mad at Morrison for writing complex stories. Whatever. It’s one of the biggest, best names in comics coming back to tell a straight up Superman for the first time since All-Star Superman, which is, in my opinion, the greatest Superman story ever told. I have absolutely no reason to question Morrison’s decisions as everything, other than Joe The Barbarian, has paid off exponentially. Morrison has an unfortunately unique approach to The Man of Steel. Why is it unfortunate? Well, it’s unfortunate because I wish that all writers had the same outlook on the character because it’s the approach that I always want to see with the character. Again, you may be worried about this relaunch of Superman, but if anyone can do it, Morrison can. And, oh yeah, Rags Morales is on the art. Is that enough for you? I think you need to stop worrying and learn to love the jeans.

Kirby: Genesis #3 (Dynamite Entertainment – $3.99): I freaking love this comic. I believe that we’ve discussed my love for it prior to this week, but it’s on the top of my pulls whenever it comes out, and that’s with good reason. But if you’re new to this column, or if you do a little too many recreational substances that might inhibit your memory, Kirby: Genesis is a book written by Kurt Busiek (you’ll see his name again a little bit later), with art from Jack Herbert and Alex Ross, that uses various discarded, unnamed and undeveloped characters from Jack Kirby’s catalog of creations to tell the story of an alien invasion on our planet Earth. It’s a really cool sci-fi comic that takes a unique approach to the genre by paying tribute to one of the greatest creators of all time. The first few issues shouldn’t be too hard to find, so good look for them and make sure to get caught up on this series. It’s a blast.

Morning Glories #12 (Image Comics – $2.99): Look, a lot of times I forget what goes on in a comic book, and sometimes the solicitations are wrong, and sometimes I don’t pay attention to the solicitations when they’re right. I’m human-esque, so I’m not perfect. I was wrong about the description of last week’s Skullkickers, but I’m pretty sure that this issue of Morning Glories is the last in this volume. I’m pretty sure, but don’t quote me (not that you would anyway, I mean, I haven’t seen anything I’ve said as a pull quote). But back to Morning Glories, and why it’s conclusion to this volume is significant. Morning Glories caught a lot of flack from people that aren’t me about their recent series of character one shots and how it took away from the excitement, mystery, and intrigue of the first few issues. Again, that’s not how I feel. I’ve loved these issues, but if you’ve been reluctant because of this, it’s worth noting that we’ll be moving back to the overall story coming up in the next few issues. And if you haven’t read any of Morning Glories yet, what are you waiting for? It’s Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s crown jewel of creations! If I were pitching it to a studio for a film adaptation, it’s LOST meets The Breakfast Club, it’s Boy Meets World meets Battlestar Galactica! Well, maybe not that last one, but it’s a really fun, interesting book that provides twists with every page turn. Seriously, if you’re not reading this, you’re missing out on one of the best comics of the year. And it’s about to get a whole lot better.

COLLECTION:

Well, let me tell you something, I really don’t care about that many of the trades that are coming out this week (much like last week), there are some interesting ones like Marv Wolfman and George Perez re-teaming to put out The New Teen Titans: Games HC, various G.I. Joe trades that I’m not caught up on, and the first trade in Jason Aaron’s Wolverine Goes To Hell storyline, which I’m sure are all awesome. But you know what? If I were you, I’d go to the graphic novel section of your store and look up this book:

Persepolis SC (Pantheon Books – $24.95): Yeah, I know this isn’t new, but so what? I picked this up last week because my wife actually has to read this for her Media in the Middle East class, so I figured I’d pick it up and check it out because I’m always up for something new, and I’ve been wanting to check out this book for quite some time. And, even though I was expecting it to be good, I didn’t expect it to be this good. Persepolis is a chronicle of Marjane Satrapi’s life from youth to adulthood while growing up in the war torn country of Iran all told through comic strip form. And it’s so good, you guys. Aside from having a sense of humor in situations where very few could blame you for having a lack of a sense of humor, the book feels educational. It’s a window into the daily life of people that live on the other side of the world. It’s enlightening, hilarious, serious, and more than anything emotional. And if you know me, you know that’s what I like. I love this book, and I understand that a lot of you have already read it, but if you’re like me and you’ve been putting it off, I urge you to shorten your to-do list and give this a read. You won’t regret it.

Henchman21

Here we go for this week:

ISSUES:
 
Atomic Robo and the Ghost of Station X #1 (Red 5 Comics – $3.50): A lot of people are saying that you will not have more fun with a #1 issue this week than you will with Atomic Robo. Now, I’m not going to go that far, because there are a lot of #1 issues this week and I haven’t read all of them yet. I will say that I have read this issue and you will have a LOT of fun reading this, and it won’t surprise me if this is better than any other #1 issue out this week. This ish kicks off volume 6 of the series, and I have said before that you can start with any miniseries in the writer Brian Clevinger and artist Scott Wegener’s oeuvre and you will be fine, and that remains true. Atomic Robo is fun, action packed, and hilarious. If you’re spending enough money to buy 13 #1 issues on Wednesday, you have enough money to buy Atomic Robo. And if you don’t have enough money to buy 13 #1 issues, then you should buy Atomic Robo anyway.
 
Casanova: Avaritia #1 (Marvel/Icon – $3.99): If there was a book that would challenge Atomic Robo for most fun first issue of the week, it would be Matt Fraction’s Casanova. It has been far too long since we got a new issue of Fraction’s gonzo spy epic, and I am sooooooo happy that it is back. Art on this series comes from Gabriel Ba (Daytripper), whose art is nothing short of amazing. Haven’t really gone out of my way to find out what this third volume is about. Don’t really care. The first two volumes were awesome, full of trippy action and mind-bending adventure, and I fully expect to enjoy this volume. It’s been too long to not have new Casanova in my life, and I’m so excited for its return.
 
Men of War #1 (DC Comics – $3.99): This was one of the more intriguing ideas for a new series when DC rolled out the list of the New 52. A modern day Sgt. Rock war comic set in the DC universe, you say? That is something I am interested in. This seems to be the case where DC got a good pitch and is going to take a chance on a book that probably won’t succeed in the current market, but they’re still willing to take a chance and publish it. It is one of the things that I enjoy about DC. They still are willing to take chances, which is something more than what I can say about Marvel (although they sometimes take chances as well, just not as often). The writing is by Ivan Brandon who I haven’t really read before and the art is by Tom Derenick, who I’ve seen only a few times (and I wasn’t that impressed) so this is kind of a wait and see, at least in terms of the creative team. They have a good concept, now it’s just a question on if they can execute. I have high hopes for this one though. It could either fail spectacularly or end up being a sleeper hit. I still say it’s one of the most unique of the new DC books.
 
COLLECTION:
 
Astro City: Life in the Big City (DC Comics – $17.99 TPB/$29.99 HC): Simply put, this is one of the best comic books of the last twenty years, and if you want to be informed on comics in the 21st Century, you need to have read this at least once. Kurt Busiek and Brett Anderson’s modern classic deconstructs all of the classic comic book tropes and examines them with a loving eye towards the genre. From the first issue, you can tell that Busiek loves superheroes and if you have any love for them as well, this comic will latch its little hooks into you and grab hold. Astro City doesn’t come out as often as I would like any more (not that it’s ever been on the greatest schedule) and the last few stories may not have been as good as this first run, but these truly are superhero comic books at their finest. If you’ve never read Astro City before, do yourself a favor and buy this collection. You will not regret it.